


The Call

by PrimeRadiant



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29077734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrimeRadiant/pseuds/PrimeRadiant
Summary: As the war begins, Hot Rod and Thunderwing follow their affinity for a mysterious artifact, but find something totally unexpected.
Relationships: Hot Rod/Thunderwing
Kudos: 4





	The Call

In the remains of a long-dead Guardian robot, Thunderwing sat next to Hot Rod and took what he thought would be his last meal.

He slowly drank a plain coolant in small sips. Hot Rod sat hunched over, repeatedly emitting small bursts of flame from his arms. The fires provided very little warmth on cold Cybertron.

“Do not waste your fuel,” Thunderwing admonished. “We must be strong for what is to come.”

“Aww, relax already, ‘Wing. I got plenty of this-” he flexed his wrist and a long pillar of flame erupted into the dark crevice of the Guardian’s leg.

Thunderwing smiled, his sharp teeth glinting in the fire. “We’ve come so far. Lost so many others who could heed the call. Did you ever think it would be just you and I at the end?”

“I don’t like to think that far ahead. If I did, I wouldn’t have come this far. Look at what happened to Pyra Magna, or Sunstorm. They heard the call too and they’re gone.”

“Indeed, young Hot Rod, indeed. This new war has split us all in two. Pyra is now an Autobot; Sunstorm a Decepticon. The affinity they have is suppressed by factionism. But you and I, Hot Rod, we must hold fast to what truly matters!” Thunderwing clenched his fist. “It won’t be long before we find it, waiting for us, up there.”

He gestured to the great Circuitmaster Temple of Boltax, only a few kliks away now.

“I can feel it getting stronger lately. Like _it_ knows we’re close,” Hot Rod said, speaking as if to the little flame bursts he was generating. Thunderwing stared hypnotically at the flame.

Hot Rod added, “When we get it, we’re sticking to the plan? We’re destroying it?”

Thunderwing was silent. The flames went out.

“‘Wing?”

“Yes, Hot Rod, you are correct. It must be destroyed. We will never be free on its relentless calling if we do not. We must be strong. My affinity tells me how close we are; yours tells you in what direction we should go. Combined, we cannot fail. ”

“I mean, you’re stronger than I am. I don’t know if I can do it, but I’ll try. You found us all, and you led us this far! And I just don’t see myself joining up with Megatron or the new Prime.”

“Optimus and Megatron have amassed too much strength. We must not let it fall into their hands.”

“We won’t. Fist-bump, buddy.” They punched each other’s fist, and powered down for the night.

* * *

  
_He remembered the raid in Helex. Little weak Thunderwing, just a little Zapling then, mocked by his whole unit. He remembered powering up with a shout in the middle of the night to the sound of explosions. He ran after the rest of his unit, right into an ambush. Hideous bestial forms attacked them all, stomping cracks in the ground, breathing fire, dropping bombs from giant wings._

_There were only five of them, destroying a whole unit of hundreds._

_Their leader transformed, spoke crudely, swung a massive blade, killing dozens._

_All Thunderwing had was his warrior mask and exo-armor. He scrambled back to his quarters and quickly put them on, his shivering fear behind a grimacing face of sharp teeth._

_The rampaging attackers never even saw him, and when they had left, he swore he could never take off this mask and this armor. He swore he would find a way to live inside them forever. He swore he would never stop…_

“You okay, ‘Wing?”

Hot Rod’s words woke him, but he pretended to stay powered down. Somehow his shell had opened during the dream, and he was colder than usual.

* * *

The two Disciples standing in front of the Circuitmaster looked up into the sky to see a fascinating meteor streaking across the sky. They smiled as they saw the meteor flash brighter and brighter. But in a split-second they realized something was wrong; the meteor bore down on top of them, sending them flying and burning.

The “meteorite” stood, ensheathed in flames. With a snap of fingers, the flames extinguished, and only Hot Rod remained.

Two more Disciples rushed out from the Temple. “You must leave! Pain and suffering will be yours if you stay!” They adopted aggressive fighting stances.

“Look, I know this place is sacred, and every Autobot and Decepticon would kill us if they knew we were here defiling this place, but you don’t get it. No one does except me and my partner here.” Hot Rod pointed behind them with a smirk.

Thunderwing stood at the top of stairs, aiming his cyclone cannon at the Disciples. “You listened for Hot Rod’s crash but ignored the bigger threat. This was your final lesson.” The torso of one Disciple was immediately atomized as he pulled the trigger, the other falling down the Temple stairs.

“Holy Xal, Thunderwing, we don’t have to kill them!” Hot Rod pleaded. “I thought we were going to just singe them a bit!”

“You-you mustn’t enter! Boltax will-he has ordered us to deny all visitors!” the Disciple shouted.

“Well now, that is strange, don’t you think, Hot Rod?” Thunderwing said. “Boltax is famous for his hospitality. Perhaps he wants _it_ for himself?”

Hot Rod grabbed the remaining Disciple by a wiry arm. “What’s the deal with Boltax? Why’s he closing up the Temple?”

“I-I am to protect Boltax...but I cannot because...Boltax has been…” the Disciple said, before falling silent.

“Ignore him, Hot Rod! Come along! We have business inside!”

The two walked through the doorless entryway with no resistance. The temple itself was a large hall, with thirteen Primal Branches leading into separate shrines.

“The main hall is always open, but never unguarded,” Thunderwing said with a scowl. “Someone, or something, has arrived before us. Be on your guard!”

“All right, all right! Take it easy!” Hot Rod said, advancing into the temple while darting his gaze from side to side.

Thunderwing clutched the side of his head. “C-can you feel it!? My mind...feels like...wants to leap out…which way?”

Hot Rod thought he saw a faint glow around his own chest. “Yeah, it’s really close. In this temple like we thought. Come on, just a little bit further...right through here, the Shrine of Prima.”

“I sense great malevolence here. We must be quick,” Thunderwing said, recovering. The two exchanged glances and nodded, bursting into the shrine.

It was empty and dark.

Thunderwing’s optics searched furiously. There was only the bare ceremonial dais in the center of the room, and a statue of Prima warning those who would dare steal the massive Star Saber and its Matrix hilt.

“Where?! Where is it, Hot Rod?” He spun towards his ally. “Where is the Matrix!?”

Hot Rod kept his optics focused on Thunderwing and aimed an arm cannon behind him, firing. The entrance to the shrine was now blocked by tons of rubble. “Somewhere you’ll never find it, ‘Wing.”

Thunderwing stood, his mouth agape. “You wait till now to betray me?!”

Hot Rod aimed his arm cannons at Thunderwing. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”

“Did you not believe in our sacred quest? To retrieve this treasure?”

“I did at first! I really did! But you’ve become completely lost in yourself, ‘Wing. You were never going to destroy the Matrix. You’d just possess it and become something even more twisted. That’s when I knew I had to bring you down.”

Thunderwing quaked, though Hot Rod couldn’t tell if it was from rage or grief.

“You probably still think that Sunstorm and Pyra quit, don’t you? They didn’t. _You killed them_.”

The memory caused Thunderwing to clutch his head and double over in pain. “I didn’t, they were going to betray-”

“You killed them. You want to know how hard it’s been to stay with you this far after that? And I still don’t want to do this. You were a great bot once. What you did doesn’t cancel that out. I’m sorry.” Hot Rod aimed.

“Sorry!? You thought you could bring me this close to the Matrix because I’d be overwhelmed by its power, didn’t you?” He stood with a wide grin. “You overrate yourself against me, young Hot Rod.” He fired his cyclone cannon, leaving Hot Rod with almost no time to dodge. “Will you die as easily? Look!”

Behind Hot Rod, a crack began spidering through the wall where Thunderwing had fired.

“After you die, I’ll be free, and I’ll level this temple to the ground! What did this accomplish, you fool?”

Hot Rod didn’t reply, and only pointed his arm cannons at his enemy, emitting small flickering flames from them. Thunderwing paused and stared hypnotically.

“You...what are you-”

And then Thunderwing’s shell split in two, ejecting the robot inside.

“What I’m doing is freeing you,” Hot Rod said, firing a laser through the small stunned robot, annihilating his left arm and a section of his torso. The outer shell recombined and fell to its knees, inert.

Hot Rod ran over to his friend, who was leaking energon around the feet of the Prima statue. Holding his hand, he whispered, “Thunderwing...I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Thunderwing’s faceplate moved but there was no sound. Suddenly, the shell’s hand rested on Hot Rod’s shoulder.

“Thank you, my friend. You did what I could not,” the shell said through radio control. “You were right about me, about all of it. Go now. Go destroy the Matrix and end this pain and suffering for us both.”

At the moment, the wall that Thunderwing attacked collapsed, and they could hear a deep, booming voice.

“Destroy the Matrix? I think not!”

Thunderwing’s shell and Hot Rod aimed their weapons through the giant hole in the wall. “Come forward! Identify yourself!” the shell demanded.

The deep voice rumbled with laughter. “Who am I?”

A Seeker stepped forward, his body colored orange, blue and grey. In one fist, he clasped the Matrix. “My name is Unicron.”

Hot Rod and Thunderwing’s shell exchanged glances. “Never heard of you. Hand over the Matrix!” Hot Rod shouted.

“One of Starscream’s lackeys will not possess its power!” the shell added.

“I am more than a simple soldier,” Unicron said. At his feet were dozens of dead Disciples, and even the remains of Boltax lay draped across a shrine. “Many of us hear the call, but I was the first to listen, and the first to arrive. Do you know what the Matrix really is? It’s a _database, underpinning_ all the wisdom on Cybertron. It shows the distant past; it shows possible futures. And limitless power, compressed into this tiny, dense form!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hot Rod said, firing on Unicron. His wing shattered, and immediately reformed.

“As I said, all the wisdom and power of Cybertron is mine! The very concepts of creation and destruction are mine to command!” A bolt surged forth from the Matrix, striking Hot Rod and sending him crashing through another wall. As he struggled to stand, Unicron stepped over the prone form of Thunderwing.

“You knew the truth, didn’t you? The sheer power. You knew that our whole race would come to only rely on the Matrix, that it would be expected to solve every problem we had. So now I stand apart from such weakness, and I will end this war before it fully begins!” Unicron fired another bolt at Thunderwing.

He exploded. Hot Rod screamed in agony.

“His obsession cost him his life. Your naivete will cost you yours. Are you ready to savor the Void?”

Hot Rod struggled to sit up, but he was chuckling. “Are you?”

“What-” Unicron started to speak, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned directly into the punching fist of Thunderwing’s shell.

Unicron was smashed through a wall, crashing outside of the Temple. Hot Rod and the shell followed him.

“Impossible!” Unicron screamed, his cockpit cracked, his wings and ailerons bent. “You died!”

“You’re the genius who covered him with Matrix energy!” They ran to Unicron and grabbed one end of the Matrix while the damaged Seeker held the other.

“You-you can’t--destroy--the-” Unicron growled. He pulled the Matrix so hard that its casing shattered, and the energy within sliced through him like a bright blade stretching deep into the sky. Unicron himself was flung so high into the sky that Hot Rod and the shell lost sight of him.

The two halves of the Matrix casing clattered to the ground.

Hot Rod lost track of the spacebound Unicron even with his long-range binoculars. “He’s gone,” he said. “We did it. The Matrix is gone. Isn’t it?”

The shell only dropped its shoulders,

“Yeah,” Hot Rod continued. “The Matrix is still up there in space somewhere. Unicron too. All that energy went through his body. Who knows what it will do to him.” He turned to the shell. “And you. What’s happened to you? Are... _you_ in there? Are you alive or dead? I don’t know how the Matrix works.”

The shell raised its fist, smiling.

Hot Rod brightened. “Hey! You got it, buddy. Fist-bump.”

He looked up into the sky. “I can still feel the Matrix out there. We’re going to find it and this Unicron guy. I don’t know how, but we will. You ready?”

Thunderwing transformed and was already on his way, prompting Hot Rod to rush to catch up.


End file.
